


Every Page You Turn You’re Writing (Typing) Your Legacy

by cminerva, What_a_mess (Myself)



Series: The Cobbler Verse [1]
Category: Longmire (TV), Walt Longmire Mysteries - Craig Johnson
Genre: Boyhood crush, Chivalry, Friendship, Gen, Language, Pre-Canon, Racism, Ruby has no time for racist bs, Ruby is the best, and a bit into the series, mention of car accident, peach cobbler is a love language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27086179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cminerva/pseuds/cminerva, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myself/pseuds/What_a_mess
Summary: For nearly four decades, Mathias has found many reasons to admire Ms. Ruby Mason née Taylor and in that time Ms. Ruby has found just as many reasons to be fond - and so proud - of the man Mathias has become. This is their story. (Title from “History” by Michael Jackson.)
Relationships: Mathias & Ruby, Walt Longmire & Henry Standing Bear
Series: The Cobbler Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980913
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	Every Page You Turn You’re Writing (Typing) Your Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> While binging Longmire for the first time I had a dream that Ruby and Mathias were shipped by the fandom, with a ship name and everything. I woke up and immediately pestered What_a_mess with this idea and our crackship quickly turned into a really sweet headcanon - and eventually a full fic - about a teenage crush and a decades long affection between these two delightful characters. Enjoy!

Durant High School wasn’t going to win any awards for being on the cutting edge of technology, but the school did boast one state of the art computer donated by a local developer and they had used typewriters to spare. Ruby Taylor had just moved back to her nowhere hometown in Wyoming after a few years of big city life in Denver. She’d gotten a part-time job at the local sheriff’s office answering phones and keeping the files organized, slapping Sheriff Connally’s hand away from her ass every hour or so, and when that didn’t quite cover the bills she picked up some hours at the county’s one high school, teaching typing and basic computing. She gradually took on more and more after school assignments. Eventually it seemed as though  Ruby covered every extracurricular short of the sports fields including Drivers Ed, piano, and the occasional tutoring lesson for girls failing out of Home Ec.  Those odd teaching jobs at the school helped pay the rent and guaranteed she never had to move back in with her parents.

Ruby had never imagined herself as a teacher but she had a natural talent for spotting and calling out bullshit, a quality that made her uniquely qualified for working with both young teenagers and Lucien Connally. She was also kind and genuinely interested in the wellbeing of her students, which made her more than one student’s favorite adult.

Ruby - Ms. Ruby to all the kids, and ma’am to more than one blushing cowboy in town - was also quite pretty, something that wasn’t lost on the youth of Absaroka County. Most of them were more interested in the flashy celebrities of the time though -  it was bumfuck Wyoming in 1980 and there were more pictures of Bo Derek secreted away in lockers than there were math textbooks - so despite her good looks, the modestly dressed and mild mannered brunette only received passing attention from her students.

Most of them at least. In 1980  Mathias Littlesun was fourteen and about 700% less smooth than he thought, or hoped he was. He was pretty slick with girls his age, but when Ms. Ruby was at his shoulder he blushed. A lot.

In the rough halls of a high school struggling with open disdain for all the kids bused in from the Rez, a scrawny five foot barely anything Cheyenne boy was already asking for trouble. Try as he might, Mathias couldn’t keep from adding to his list of social sins. He could run like nobody’s business but he was shit at baseball - the Durant HS sport of choice - he couldn’t wrap his head around the bullshit American “history” canon to keep his grade above a D, and he was head over heels in love with Ms. Ruby Taylor.

Mathias had no need for piano or remedial sewing and he was too young to drive, but every Tuesday afternoon he was the most devoted typing student Durant High had ever seen. 

By the age of thirty, Ms. Ruby had experienced enough admirers to spot them at a dozen paces, but she was incredibly nice about the obvious adoration from Mathias. She never mentioned the rapt attention he paid to her in class or the blush that flooded his cheeks when she spoke to him directly, just remained her polite and gentle self. In an admirable show of innocence and self-delusion, Mathias thought he was in the clear and that she didn't know about his crush, bless him.

The high school was a dreary place in the best of times, but on Tuesday afternoons it took on a kind of glow for Mathias. Ms. Ruby’s rich voice carried along the rows of shitty typewriters, encouraging her students and gently correcting mistakes. Mathias’ work was always flawless and even though Ruby spent most of her time crouched down beside the students struggling with their work, she always made sure to stop by Mathias’ chair and give him a warm smile of encouragement as he mastered every assignment she gave him.

It was a long wait for Drivers Ed after Mathias had passed his typing course with the highest grade of his young life. He counted the days until he would be old enough to join the driving class, though he still saw Ms. Ruby every week as she wrapped up her classes. Sometimes Mathias was able to make up an excuse to run into her, hurrying ahead to open the door for her or - on a few rare but precious occasions - he was permitted to carry her Home Ec supplies from the ugly school building to her car, earning him a warm smile and setting off a flurry of butterflies in his stomach.

Though always on alert for teasing, as he was forever fending off attacks for his size and skin and failure to just  _ fit in _ , it had somehow never occurred to Mathias that he wasn’t being subtle about his Wyoming-sized crush on Ms. Ruby and that others were bound to notice. After one particularly exhilarating afternoon of carrying sewing supplies to Ms. Ruby’s car, Mathias trudged back up to the high school and found Henry Standing Bear - a popular senior, despite being Cheyenne - lounging against the entrance to the boy’s locker room.

“Careful, Mathias,” Henry told the younger boy, voice low and heavy with amusement. “I don’t think Ms. Ruby would like it if you got drool on her nice shoes.”

Mathias frowned, not totally understanding what he was getting at but feeling himself flush all the same.

“Shut up, Standing Bear,” he said roughly. Henry just laughed, his attention immediately diverted by the arrival of the quarterback, Walt Longmire, fresh out of football practice.

Mathias watched the two older boys walk off together and scuffed his shoes along the floor, angry and flushed. If Standing Bear knew how he felt about Ms. Ruby then surely the other kids did too. This knowledge could hardly dampen his devotion to Ms. Ruby, but it did make him more self-conscious.

  
  


The long awaited driving lessons turned out to be pure torture. With his shit luck, Mathias was assigned to drive after one of the taller kids in his class so the first few minutes were always spent in fumbling embarrassment as he tried to adjust the seat and mirrors. Ms. Ruby never said a word, just waited patiently until Mathias finally stopped fidgeting with the mirrors and sat still enough for the lesson to begin. Like every other teenager in Absaroka, across the Rez, or anywhere else in America, Mathias was desperate to drive, but he was also desperate to impress Ms. Ruby and the latter desire made the former nearly impossible. 

Being this close to her with no one else around made Mathias unbearably nervous. It didn’t help that she’d gotten engaged a few months prior; the small red stone and tiny diamonds glinted on her slender finger as she gently tapped on the gear shift or pointed to the rearview mirror, depending upon which particular aspect of this enterprise he was neglecting. Sixteen year old Mathias was under no illusions about his chances with this woman - a woman nearly twice his age anyway - but it was particularly crushing to know she was promised to the handsome giant of a man he’d seen her picking her up from the school on several occasions over the past year. 

And then the spring before Mathias’ senior year, Ms. Ruby got married and - despite being fully aware that this was coming - Mathias was  _ devastated _ . The kind of heartbroken, taken to rock bottom type of angst that only teenagers can manage. Some of the girls from home ec threw the much adored Ms. Ruby a wedding shower and invited the whole school but Mathias stayed away. He was (reasonably) mature about his grief in the stiff upper lip, untouched surface of a lake type of way he had been perfecting over the past few years, but with a sixteen year old’s success rate.

But as it is wont to do, life more or less moved on. The emotional upheaval he had experienced at the news of her wedding had shaken Mathias quite a bit and, while he still admired her deeply, he was better able to accept that Ms. Ruby was far more complex than his idealized vision of her, a woman with a whole life outside the school that he knew nothing about. He still opened doors for her and carried her bag on occasion, but the idea of Ms. Ruby no longer kept him frozen and blushing and Mathias figured his first brush with love was behind him.

The next year however, Ms. Ruby came into school with several visible bruises and an arm she favored as she moved - obvious even from across the busy school hallways - and Mathias was _ livid _ . He found an excuse to drop by the computer lab and asked her about the injuries; she explained that she was in a car accident, but he’d heard that one before and knew what it meant. He was at the ‘how to lure her soon-to-be-no-more husband out to the Rez’ part of his plan, because he already knew whose gun he was going to “borrow” when he overheard some other teachers talking about the car accident and poor Mr. Mason being kept at the hospital for a few more days. Eventually he discovered that the Masons were on their way home from a weekend in the mountains when a coyote ran out in the road and caused them to swerve into a ditch as Mr. Mason attempted to miss it. Ms. Ruby recovered quickly enough but the episode led Mathias to realize that while he thought he was over his crush, he still had a soft spot for her the size of Canada.

By the time graduation drew near Mathias had finally gotten a little taller and filled out a bit, going from just whip thin to a lean, mean teen with enough experience with 80s white people bullshit to have most of a boulder on his shoulder, because why have a mere chip on your shoulder when you can just be mad at the  _ whole universe _ ?

He could run faster than anyone else in school, ride better than most of the men ten years his senior, had managed to avoid getting hauled in to the station for vandalism or brawling unlike the other boys he hung out with (but mostly because he was just harder to catch, being so damn fast when he legged it), and his grades were pretty solid. They weren't stand out amazing but he was in no danger of flunking out before they handed out the diplomas. College wasn't even a pipe dream, it just wasn't even on the table. But Mathias had a job lined up for after graduation at the construction company where he had worked the previous summer so he wasn't worried about what the future held. While Mathias wasn’t thrilled about his prospects for life after high school, he knew he had a better deal than plenty of the other boys his age both on the Rez and off.

So it was enough to send him into a spitting rage to be collared by the piece of shit, wide-lapeled asshole of a Vice President at Connally Enterprises that accosted him while Mathias was minding his business on the walk home from school. The man had Mathias by the literal collar, the teenager’s cheekbone already darkened from where he took a hit after swinging on the other man when he first tried to shove the teenager in his truck.

VP Assface, as Mathias immediately dubbed him, dragged him in to the Absaroka County sheriff’s office, one arm twisted far enough behind his back that Mathias couldn't try to land another kick at the man's kneecap (at least he was limping a bit), and somehow the universe decided it could make everything much,  _ much _ worse for Mathias.

Sheriff Connally was out and both of his deputies were on calls, which meant that Mathias was hauled in hissing and struggling to find himself face to face with none other than Ms. Ruby. Mortification layered onto the rage and if the intensity of it could have set him aflame, he would have just turned into ash and not had to worry about her seeing him like this.

“ _ Mister _ Morris!” Ms. Ruby stood up so fast that her chair teetered before settling on its feet. “What exactly is going on here?” 

VP Assface - or Mr. Morris, apparently - shoved Mathias roughly enough that he caught himself hard on the partition and the jackass started spewing nonsense about Mathias having been a roadside menace or the like.

Ms. Ruby might have been over a foot shorter than the white man, but the way she cut him off mid-diatribe was enough to make her seem to tower over him.

“What you mean you say is that you saw a young Cheyenne man walking on the side of the road, off the Reservation. And that was enough for you to see fit to snatch him without any sort of parental consent, and spirit him away to throw him in a jail cell?” 

By the time she finished, her tone was icy and Morris was getting red in the face with anger, but before he did more than open his mouth to reply, Ms. Ruby turned her back on the spluttering Morris and moved to Mathias.

“You have track after school, don’t— Mathias... what happened to your face?”

If he had thought her tone was cold before, this proved him wrong. Ruby stopped herself before actually touching his chin to see his face better, and wheeled on the taller man in a way that looked like it should have been accompanied by a thunderclap.

“You  _ hit _ him? So, I’ll be adding an assault charge to the kidnapping of a minor charge, then? Just because you saw a young Cheyenne man off the Rez?”

Mathias’ glare turned into a mean smile, and he told her the truth. 

“I wasn’t off the Rez, Ms. Ruby. I was walking home after track, like you thought, but this sack of  _ shit _ ,” here, she tutted at his language, “followed me for too long, because he grabbed me across the line. I was on the Rez.”

Having seen the look on Mathias' face, and watching Ms. Ruby turn to him ever so slowly, Morris started yelling again—accusations of being a liar narrowly taking the lead over the slurs.

Ms. Ruby actually stomped her foot. The crack of her low heel on the wooden floor rang out like a gunshot, and Morris was startled into silence.

“ _ That _ ,” she declared, “will be quite enough of that. Everett Morris, you will leave this station this minute, and you will check your mailbox for notice if charges will be brought against you. Whether or not they are, I will have a formal apology to this young man—“

“Now see here, you jumped up little—“ She slapped him, clean across the face. Mathias hadn’t even seen her move, and he would bet good money the older man hadn’t either from the slack jawed look on his face, the handprint slowly reddening.

Ms. Ruby took a prim step back again, smoothed her skirt composedly, and continued speaking as she looked Morris dead in his stunned eye.

“You decided to stick your boot in a big old mess when you snatched a minor from the Reservation. That makes this a Federal case. I will have a formal apology to this fine young man, to the Tribal Council, and to myself, come to that, on my desk before the week is out. Or mark my words, Sheriff Connally will have words with his brother, Barlow Connally, and we’ll just see how long you have any job prospects in Absaroka County.”

The blood had slowly drained from Morris' face as she continued, making the handprint all the more vivid. When she finished, Morris stood there, whey faced and bright eyed with fury. She stared him down implacably. When the white man turned his glare on Mathias, he gave him a blank face that he’d never quite managed to keep stone smooth before this moment, and raised his chin in proud defiance.

Ms. Ruby, of course, had the last word.

“Get. Out. of my station.”

He got.

When the door closed on Morris’ heels, Mathias felt like someone had cut his strings, and the adrenaline that had kept him almost vibrating with nerves fled and he slumped to half sit on the partition.

The tension broken, all that was left was for Ms. Ruby to check on his cheek (“I’m fine, honest. It would take more than that to take me down,”), for him to talk her out of actually pressing charges (“You have  _ every _ right—“ “I do, but we both know that neither my father nor I would ever find work again...”), and to call one of the deputies back to the station so that she could drive him home (“It’s non-negotiable, I’m afraid. And I didn’t have lunch, so you’re just going to have to put up with a stop by the Busy Bee for a sandwich and a piece of Maude’s cobbler,”) before the wretched afternoon ended as one of Mathias’ most treasured memories. Ruby grabbed her purse and pointed Mathias in the direction of the diner.

He made sure to hold each and every door for her on the way.

  
  


After graduation, Mathias remained on the Rez unless absolutely necessary. High school in Absaroka was supposed to open his life up to better possibilities, but Mathias decided it was better to stay on the Rez. It was no less cruel or ugly for young Cheyenne kids, but at least he was spared the sight of the white assholes who had made his life hell in the county.

Mathias was never completely sure what drove him to sign up for the tribal police force but after close to a decade of hard construction labor he was tired of the brutally long days and never knowing when the work was going to dry up. The first few years as a cop were glorious. Mathias still had a bit of the angry young teenager left in him and the uniform and leadership of Malachai Strand made him feel powerful in a way he hadn't realized he could feel. But the charm wore off eventually. More than anything, Mathias wanted to help his people to thrive and it was clear that Malachai and his inner circle were helping themselves to the detriment of the Rez. It turned out Mathias was a pretty decent cop, which only made Malachai's control over the force that much more galling.

Mathias - never openly defiant with Malachai but not part of the inner circle either - often found himself as Malachai's errand boy. He was occasionally sent into the county to deliver messages to crusty old Sheriff Connally, and eventually Sheriff Longmire. Usually Lucien would meet him at a roadside burger joint, but on rare occasions Mathias would find himself in the sheriff's station. He hated being there; Ms. Ruby would smile kindly from behind her desk regardless of how stiff and brusque he was in her presence. Mathias could only bristle at her friendly greetings, figuring she must think him under Malachai's thumb. The shame that thought brought him was enough to keep his ears burning throughout every cursed trip to the station.

  
  


Several shitty years later, Mathias was given the nebulous honor of tribal police chief after Malachai was finally arrested. Malachai was certainly corrupt, but he had a strict system and maintained order. With him gone, the tenuous control on the Rez was nearly impossible to maintain. Suddenly Mathias was back to being the scrawny boy with no friends and now all eyes were on him, waiting for him to fail.

Adding to the frustrations of his new job, Mathias had no choice but to work with Absaroka’s local hero Walt Longmire. In his quarterback jersey or tin star, the man seemed to inspire nothing but confidence in everyone except Mathias who knew full well you could never fully trust a white man. Maybe Longmire’s friend Standing Bear would figure that out eventually.

As much as Mathias was loath to admit it, Longmire was a decent sheriff, but he was hell to work with, even when Mathias was inclined to do so. And apparently part of working with Walt Longmire meant going  _ to _ Walt Longmire. Which meant putting himself face to face with Ms. Ruby Mason  née Taylor - still running the Absaroka County sheriff’s office from her desk at the front - for the first time since taking over command of the tribal police.

“Oh hello, Mathias.”

Ruby greeted him in her usual calm way, as if he really was just a regular visitor here and not the stammering young boy who always forgot to check his mirrors before backing up. Mathias might as well have still been that boy for all he could form a response. Apparently no matter how old he got, the memory of that teenage crush was going to haunt him at the most inconvenient times. Now over fifty, Mathias still felt himself flush from the collar of his black button up to the roots of his hair. Damn it.

Mathias cleared his throat and moved closer to Ruby’s desk. 

“Ms. Ruby,” he finally got out, nodding once. She smiled then, her lips - still that burgundy shade that had haunted his teenage dreams - quirking up into a brief smile. 

“You know, I think it’s about time you just call me ‘Ruby’, Mathias,” she told him gently, still smiling. “It’s been a long time since those typing lessons after all.”

Mathias gave a short laugh.

“Yeah, well I’m still the best dam- er darn -typist on the Rez.”

They shared a smile before Ruby jerked her head towards the other side of the office.

"Walt's waiting for you."

Mathias nodded and cleared his throat.

"Thanks, er, Ruby."

Mathias ducked his head, blushing again and felt as if he'd really gotten away with something. He turned to go and damn if he didn’t stop just shy of running into none other than Henry Standing Bear. The older man raised one brow and suddenly Mathias really was back in high school. Mathias glared up at Standing Bear and slowly lifted one hand, middle finger extended, careful to keep the gesture out of view of Ruby. Standing Bear had the audacity to give a small twitch of his lips, practically a smirk from him. Mathias sighed and stalked into Longmire’s office.

Every once in a while Ruby comes into the office to find a takeout container from Busy Bee with some of their peach cobbler. It’s always when Mathias has popped by to see Walt and though he never leaves it for her while she's at her desk, she knows it's from him. Mathias still gets the door for her every time he has the chance, and if Standing Bear happens to be around and wants to raise that eyebrow at him again… Well, as usual, Henry can go fuck himself.

**Author's Note:**

> What_a_mess and I are irl friends and, despite writing fic with and for each other for well over a decade, this is the first joint piece we've ever actually posted for others to see. I'm absurdly pleased with this work, smug over getting What_a_mess sucked into Longmire, and - as always - so glad that we found each other. 
> 
> Thanks for reading our first collaboration and look for more Longmire fics from us in the future since we both have plenty of Feelings about these idiots.


End file.
